Green Bay Packers: The need to draft a QB
Scott Tolzien … is he one of the long-term answers for the Green Bay Packers?
Raymond T. Rivard photograph
News yesterday that the New York Giants had reached out to Green Bay Packers backup quarterback Matt Flynn didn’t come as much of a surprise. But what’s even more interesting is that the Packers haven’t.
After all, had the Packers had a real interest in re-signing Flynn, GM Ted Thompson most likely would have done so by now, don’t you think? But then again, maybe Thompson has been biding his time with Flynn to see what the market would bring.
Will Matt Flynn be the Packers backup quarterback in 2014?
Raymond T. Rivard photograph
Either way, the Packers are without a backup QB – save for Scott Tolzien. We all saw what happened last season when the Packers lost starting QB Aaron Rodgers for half of the season. They tried Seneca Wallace; they tried Tolzien; and ended up re-signing Flynn from the league QB scrap heap to help them limp through the rest of the season until Rodgers recovered.
The lack of a proven and reliable backup quarterback affected the entire team and led to mediocrity, at best.
Have the Packers learned their lesson? We’ll find out in the next few weeks. Either TT gets on the horn to Flynn some time soon or the Packers will have two quarterbacks on their roster. Head coach Mike McCarthy said he wants four in camp.
The math isn’t adding up here, folks.
But added into the equation is the fact that the Packers have many more important immediate needs that they must address – safety, inside linebacker, defensive line, offensive line, and probably wide receiver. So that puts the team into the middle rounds before they can even think about addressing the QB spot. But Packers fans shouldn’t worry too much.
Ted Thompson has hit on some decent mid-round draft selections in the past (Brady Poppinga, Johnny Jolly, Desmond Bishop, Mason Crosby, Josh Sitton, James Starks, and Micah Hyde), so we could probably think there will be players – including QBs – still on the board.
But what if a guy like Jimmy Garoppolo or Zach Mettenberger or A.J. McCarron fell to the Packers in the second or third round? Do they take a QB that high in the Draft? Given that the Packers have two third- and fifth- round picks, it might be tempting for Thompson.
Virginia Tech Hokies quarterback Logan Thomas
Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
Most likely, Thompson will wait until those middle to later rounds and try to target players like Tom Savage out of Pittsburgh, Aaron Murray out of Georgia, Brett Smith of Wyoming, and Connor Shaw from South Carolina. One of the more intriguing prospects, in my mind, is Logan Thomas of Virginia Tech, rated 10th on walterfootball.com, but has incredible physical tools.
Here is what they have to say over at walterfootball.com:
"Sources were impressed with Thomas’s skill set at the Senior Bowl, but he continued to show the mistakes that plagued him over the past two seasons. Thomas put his big arm and athleticism on display at the Combine. There are teams that are intrigued with him as a mid-rounder."
While addressing a quarterback in the draft has raised its head before, if the Packers let Flynn walk, it might approach critical mass. For the second straight year the Packers find themselves with major issues at backup quarterback.
How they address it will fun to watch.
Stay tuned …